


Playlist Live

by Cassodembreankia



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: F/M, Playlist Live, She's not really an OC she's just a small YouTuber, Vines, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-08-21 20:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8258683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassodembreankia/pseuds/Cassodembreankia
Summary: To use Thomas' word, lots of shenanigans happen at Playlist Live. I swear none of it was my fault.





	1. Day One

Water cascaded over my skin and steam curled around my head. I was one of those people who took _really_ long showers—mostly to wash my _long_ hair and shave my legs—so I started to sing. Disney, specifically. No one would mind. I was crammed into the corner of the top floor of the hotel and I knew that my friend staying on the other side of the wall was gone. He’d already left for Playlist Live. I was nowhere near as popular as he was so my first Meet-and-Greet started later than his.

“ _All those days, watching from the windows_ —” I kept singing as I worked the shampoo out of my hair. “ _All at once, everything looks different, now that I see you._ ” Sure I was singing loudly, but I didn’t think I was bothering anyone.

“ _All those days, chasing down a daydream_ —” The voice on the other side of the wall sang dramatically. I chuckled. _Oh Thomas,_ I thought amusedly. He got through the male part and I joined in during the chorus, doing the best to remember the harmonies. I was so bad at harmony. Melody was easy, but the last couple harmonies of _I See the Light_ were horrible for me.

Once the song was over, I hurried to finish my shower—cutting each leg in three places in my haste to get done with shaving my legs. After I turned the water off, I threw on my clothes for the day and went to knock on Thomas’ door—still with a fluffy towel wrapped around my hair. I knocked fervently.

He opened the door. “ _Good mornin’—good MORNIN’_!” he sang from _Singing in the Rain_.

“I thought you left for your Meet-‘n’-Greet! What’re you doin’ singing Shower Duets with me?”

Thomas laughed. “I lied about leaving because I knew you’d sing. Thought I'd surprise you,” he answered. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

“Okay, Mr. Broadway. Okay.”

“Mind if I crash your M-‘n’-G for a Vine?”

I shrugged. “If you can escape yours long enough to crash mine…” I paused and grinned before started to sing. “ _Be…_ my _… guest_!” That made him laugh. He gave me a hug and tugged on my towel hat teasingly.

“ _Put our service to the test!_ ” he continued to sing, dramatically spinning and dancing as I rolled my eyes and went back to my room.

“See you later, Thomas!” I called. Both of our doors closed, but I could still hear him singing. I felt sorry for Dan and Phil—who were on the other side of his room. He would stop soon, though, because I knew him. He’d want to save his voice to he could talk to everyone all day. Though if he crashed my M-‘n’-G I could expect him to shout or sing.

 *^*^*^*

I waited almost _all day_ for Thomas to crash—but he never did. I wasn’t surprised, though. He was popular and probably didn’t get a break. Which was quite a relief, to be honest.

As I showered off the sweat of the day, I hear him singing _A Whole New World_ through the wall—so I sighed and joined in when the girl part came around. Just scrubbing off sweat made my shower a lot shorter, so I was climbing out on our last harmony. This song was so much easier to harmonize at the end.

A texted _Ding_ ed on my phone as I finished putting on my pajamas. _Brought Tangled, Hercules, & Aladdin w/ me if you wanna come watch. D&P invited too so no pressure. _It was from Thomas. Next to his name was a music note emoji.

_D &P?_

_Dan & Phil._

_Oh. Is it okay that I'm in my PJs?_

_OF COURSE!_

_Okay. I’ll be right over._

I rebrushed my hair and went next door. I knocked and waited. When Thomas opened the door, I gave him a hug. “You never crashed my Meet-‘n’-Greet,” I commented.

“Yeah. Didn’t have time,” he replied with a shrug, leading me into the room.

“Well, well! If it isn't our favorite American YouTuber named Star!” Dan greeted sarcastically.

“I'm the _only_ American YouTuber named Star that you know,” I retorted.

“Which is why you're our favorite!” Phil put in brightly.

“Yeah!” Dan and Thomas agreed.

Dan and Phil were on one of the two queen beds and Thomas pushed me onto the other before elegantly and gracefully leaping onto the same one next to me—nearly launching me off. He gave me another hug and laughed as Phil chuckled and Dan grinned. Thomas grabbed the remote and started up the DVD—they’d chosen _Aladdin_ while I'd been putting on my pajamas. I didn’t mind. I loved Disney.

“Now, you two aren’t going to sing the whole time, are you?” Dan asked me and Thomas pointedly, giving us a sharp look. We glanced at each other out of the corners of our eyes before turning back to Dan. I cleared my throat.

“Ahem. No promises,” I replied. Thomas laughed.

The _Arabian Nights_ music began and I curled up into a ball on the end of the queen bed to watch. Thomas sat next to me, a comfortable distance away. I kept sneaking peeks at him and Dan out of the corner of my eye. If Dan even _touched_ a phone with the Vine app on it I was leaving the room—because Dan was closest to me and that meant Thomas was going to prank me. I loved all of “my boys” but I didn’t trust them as far as I could throw them—and I couldn’t throw them very far because I had, like, no upper body strength.

It took only a couple minutes for me to realize that I was sitting right under the air conditioner and it was blowing cold air _all over me_. Soon my curled-up-to-watch-a-movie position turned into curled-up-to-stay-warm. Goosebumps sprouted on my arms and legs and I started to shiver. My arms were wrapped under the bend in my knees, comfortable but chilly.

“Are you cold, Star?” Phil asked, a bit incredulous.

“I'm always cold,” I answered crisply, trying to pay attention to the movie.

Thomas scooted over and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. He was insanely warm. Subconsciously I nuzzled into his side to soak up as much heat as I could. “Tomorrow night when we watch another movie we’ll get you a blanket,” he told me quietly.

I nodded and turned my attention back to _Aladdin_.

Thomas sang _One Jump Ahead_ in my ear, but soft enough that Dan and Phil probably couldn’t hear him—and if they could, they could ignore it. When the lady sang, “ _Still I think he’s rather tasty_!” I sang that in his ear, mimicking her guttural voice, scrunching up my face cheekily. Thomas snorted and rested his forehead on my shoulder to try to restrain his laughter.

The four of us laughed and joked through the movie, with me quietly singing the Genie’s songs very badly since they were almost out of my range but it made Thomas chuckle, and then we reached _A Whole New World_. Dan and Phil groaned a bit in complaint as Thomas and I got off the bed we were sitting on—or rather, Thomas just stood up with me in his arms before setting me down. He took both of my hands as Aladdin’s part began.

“ _I can show you the world—shining, shimmering, splendid!”_ he sang, a bit dramatically. “ _Tell me, Princess, now when did you last let your heart decide_?” He sang directly to me, completely ignoring the screen. I smiled, holding his gaze. He sang very well. “ _I can open your eyes—take you wonder by wonder—over, sideways, and under, on a magic carpet ride_!” He gave me an almost mischievous snicker. “ _A whole new world! A new fantastic point-of-view! No one to tell us no—or where to go—or say we’re only dreaming_!”

“ _A whole new world_!” I cut in, a bit quieter than he was, still looking directly into his brown eyes. “ _A dazzling place I never knew—but when I'm way up here, it’s crystal clear, that now I'm in a whole new world with you_!”

We did a little bit of improvised choreography that nearly made me fall over onto Dan’s knees as we kept going, singing relatively loudly and not particularly caring because the rooms on either side were empty. Thomas spun me under his arm while still holding onto both my hands. I knew the move—in Swing dancing it was called Cuddle. I ended the song with my back pressed against his chest.

We were both facing the screen, watching the movie fondly.

“Oi! Down in front!” Dan snapped. Thomas and I jumped back onto the other bed—though I considered tackling Dan—and went back to quasi-cuddling so Thomas could keep me warm.

The movie ended. I was leaned against Thomas’ side and my eyelids were feeling heavy. It had been truly a long day. I loved Playlist Live and meeting everyone and talking and hearing their stories, but as an introvert I could only be around people for so long before just getting exhausted.

Dan and Phil left quietly to go back to their shared room on the other side of the wall, but Thomas stayed where he was as I tried to get up the energy to leave myself. He kept holding onto my shoulders, letting me soak up his warmth as I tried to wake up my brain. There was a tiny little grin on his face as the credits for the movie continued rolling. “Do you wanna just stay in here tonight?” he wondered curiously, rubbing my arm.

I shook my head. “No, I’ll go back to my room. I'm just tired and need a minute to muster up my energy.”

His hand slid under the bend in my knees and he picked me up. “Have your key?”

“Of course. And even if I didn’t, I gave you my spare just in case I accidentally locked myself out,” I remarked tiredly as he carried me out of his hotel room and down the hall just a bit to mine. I put the key in the card slot and pushed open the door. Thomas set me down on my bed and tucked me in before ruffling my hair.

“Sleep well, Starry,” he murmured quietly, retreating out the door. Once he was gone I finally found enough energy to get out of bed and brush my teeth. After I finished that I climbed back into the covers and started to drift off.

Thomas was a good guy. A rare kind soul. I was honored to be his friend. We had a lot in common, him and me. We both got social anxiety and had a bad tendency to be super awkward. Not to mention all of the ridiculous “shenanigans”—to use his word—that just seemed to happen around us for no apparent reason. Like the time we were at a different convention and heading down the stairs at the hotel and I fell on the second-to-last step. Or the other time—at the same convention—when Thomas tried to prank me with a Pokémon joke, and I instinctively lashed out and clocked him in the nose.

It wasn’t too difficult to see why we became very close very quickly.

Florida was somewhere around two or three hours ahead of my usual timezone so even though it wasn’t particularly late where I came from—somewhere around nine or ten at night—it was midnight in Florida so I was going to bed since I'd have to be up kinda early for Playlist Live the next morning.

I closed my eyes and started to try to sleep. _Prince Ali_ was still running through my head as though I were listening to it on my iPod. I pulled an irritated face, rolled onto my other side, and burrowed deeper into the covers, pulling them up to just under my ear. The only thing I hated about hotels in warm climates was the A/C was always directly positioned to blow freezing air right on my face.

Once I was a bit more comfortable, I finally dropped off.


	2. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Two of Playlist Live and the continuing shenanigans of Thomas Sanders and Starquake Dreams

Due to scheduling, my Meet-and-Greet started quite a bit earlier than usual on just this day, instead of the other two where they were a bit later and at the same time.

“Do you want to hear what Dan and Phil said about you at their Meet-‘n’-Greet yesterday?” an excited girl asked as I gave her a strong hug. I smiled curiously, trying to hide my internal panic. Dan and Phil were two of the nicest guys on the internet—with Thomas being the other nicest—but they had a small reputation among the other YouTubers for teasing. And because I was one of the youngest YouTubers, I got teased a lot.

But what could it hurt? I doubted Dan and Phil would even jokingly bad-mouth me to their audience.

“Sure!” I answered.

“They said that you are one of the nicest girls on the planet and if any of us ever get the chance to hang out with you we should all totally take it because you brighten up every room you're in.” The girl paused—Janessa I think her name was—and then smirked. “They also said you sing Disney at the top of your lungs so we should be prepared to deal with that too,” she added.

I laughed. “Well they're not wrong,” I commented. “I do love me some Disney.”

I took a picture with the girl on her phone, giving her another hug while smiling into the camera. Then she melted away as more people came to speak with me. I smiled for so long that my face began to ache. But it was all worth it. I loved being around all these people.

“EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS!” a new voice shouted over the room. I sighed as most of the people milling around started clapping—all in the same rhythm.

Thomas waded through the sea of people—much to everyone’s delight—until he reached me. Politely, he stood behind me and let me talk to everyone until my Meet-and-Greet was over and I got a break to go get some lunch. Then he followed me into the greenroom where I grabbed my bag. “Was that for a Vine?” I asked, slinging my strap over my shoulder. He smiled mischievously as I pulled my phone out. My Twitter notifications were going berserk.

“Yes, and it’s already up,” he answered.

I shook my head and chuckled. “I can tell. Are you headed to lunch too?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to. I was just gonna hang out here. But if you're going out, I'd hate for you to be there all on your own.” He found his backpack—which was probably just packed with extra Sharpies for signing _everything_ —and put it on. “Shall we?” he offered, extending his elbow. I looped my arm through it and smirked.

“We shall,” I remarked.

We left the convention and went to a nearby, small restaurant that wasn’t exactly fast food but wasn’t exactly super-fancy either. There were actually a couple fans there—also getting lunch—with their passes hanging on lanyards around their necks. We did nothing to avoid them, but they didn’t notice us so we didn’t have to go over and talk. We just were seated at a table and started to talk. Mostly about musicals and the ones we dreamed to be in. I joked that maybe we should just make our own production of _Phantom of the Opera_ after we both admitted we’d love to play the lead characters in it.

“Of course,” I started. “I'm not exactly the best singer so I doubt I'd ever be cast as Christine, but it is a dream of mine.”

“What are you talking about? You're a good singer!” Thomas replied indignantly.

I snorted. “That’s very kind of you, but I'm really not _that_ good. Not for Christine, anyway. I can hit every note in the title song except that last high E so I'm automatically disqualified. Her voice requires a certain degree of control and opera-style that I don’t have. I've never known how to _really_ sing opera and while I have a decent level of control over my voice, I don’t think I have enough.” I gave him a very pointed look. “Now, _you,_ on the other hand, would be a spectacular Phantom.”

“For a moment I thought you were going to say Christine,” Thomas joked.

I coughed on the sip of water I'd taken. “Well, I suppose that too,” I commented, giggling.

“You really think I'd make a good Phantom?”

“Oh yeah! You’ve got the right range for it, and while you're good at blending, you don’t have a ‘choir boy’ voice.” I stopped. “I mean, you’ve got the power for the role and the rich, full quality that many actors who have played the Phantom before have been lacking.” I shrugged and took another sip of water. “For whatever that’s worth.”

“You're too nice,” Thomas said.

I snorted again. “No that’s _you_. You're the nice one. I'm the incredibly supportive but obnoxiously sarcastic friend.”

“Okay. While that may be true, Star, you're still nice.”

I laughed. “Well, thanks Thomas. But between the two of us, you're definitely nicer than me. Especially around friends. Around viewers I'm always nice and sweet and I mean everything I say because these people are all so excited and genuine and I'm eager to see the people behind the numbers. But when I'm hanging with Dan and Phil and Louise and Hannah and Grace and Tyler and whoever else, I have a lot of sarcastic and borderline rude comments going on in my head that I'm too obnoxiously polite to say.”

“What and I don’t?” Thomas teased.

“No. You're too _genuinely_ kind and pure-hearted.”

Thomas relented a bit, and we went back to talking about our other favorite plays and musicals. I loved theatre. I hadn’t been in any productions in _years_ , but that didn’t mean I didn’t love it any less. I always made good friends with my cast-mates and enjoyed the dramatic numbers.

Before we knew it, it was time to return to the convention. Thomas escorted me back on his arm—and we ran into a bunch of girls who knew who he was. They didn’t really know me, but that was okay. I was totally willing to take a big group picture on their phones with him for them. He tried to insist that they include me, but I pushed back. Why would they want a YouTuber they didn’t know in their photo? They asked if we were dating. I quickly replied with a _no_. He was just escorting me back.

Once we reentered the building that Playlist Live was being held in, Thomas stopped me. “Star… I need to ask you for a favor,” he said quietly as Tyler Oakley and Troye Sivan bustled past, laughing at something on Tyler’s phone. I looked up at Thomas in alarm, wondering what he was talking about. His voice was more serious than I'd probably ever heard it.

“What?” I asked.

The seriousness was broken. He smiled impishly. “I'm going to need a little help with my panel tomorrow afternoon…”

* * *

 

“Hey Playlist!” I shouted as I ran onto the stage, clutching my microphone to my chest.

I was greeted by a wave of cheers. Smiling, I waved and sat down on the stool they’d placed out for me. Sitting as ladylike as I could, I took a moment to take in the crowd. They were there to see me! _Me!_ I mean, I was just a kid from the West. I'd never really planned on getting here!

“Wow. There’re a lot of you. I'm totally honored that you're all here. But raise your hands if you're here because Dan and Phil are on right after me!” I saw a bunch of hands go up and nodded in satisfaction. “I thought so. But some of you are here for me and have questions that I haven’t gotten to in all the Q-and-A’s that I've done on my channel! So let’s jump right in since I don’t have a lot of time and there appear to be a lot of people. How does that sound?” More cheers. “Okay! Let’s get started!” I turned to the line of people standing behind a microphone on a stand. “Hello,” I greeted the viewer standing in front—a man a few years older than me.

“Hi, Star. I'm Allen.”

“Hi Allen!”

“You’ve answered a lot of basic questions about yourself on your channel—but what's your favorite thing about being _here_? At conventions?”

I bit my lower lip for a moment, formulating a quick but true answer. “Meeting you guys, definitely. There’s nothing better than meeting the people behind the numbers and the thumbs-up buttons and the comments. Plus the weather in Florida is much milder than the weather back home.” I smiled a bit cheekily. “But, no, seriously. I do love meeting all of you guys. I love hearing your stories and feeling your excitement and your hugs. I think I've hugged you guys tighter than I have members of my own family!”

Laughter. The man nodded his head and left with a smile.

“Hi Star,” the next person said quietly. She couldn’t have been much more than five. Her mother was standing beside her, holding her hand. My mouth fell open in adoration for how cute she was. “I'm Lizzy. I was just wondering what it’s like to be a princess?”

My hand rested on my heart. “Aren’t you precious?!” I exclaimed. “Oh my goodness. I think that is the best question I've ever received. It’s not always easy to be a princess, sweetie. It’s not all songs, dances, pretty dresses, and balls. It means leading people and making decisions that others don’t want to or cannot make. And you know what? I wouldn’t trade it for the world! Because being a princess means I have the power to sing and dance and lead people. The best princesses are good leaders. You remember that, okay?” I made sure to talk to her without that high-pitched baby-talk voice grownups tended to use to talk to young children. I talked to children as though they were equals to me—because they were, and I didn’t know how to treat them any less. Not really.

She nodded sheepishly and her mother helped her walk back to their seats.

“Wasn’t she the sweetest?” I said to the crowd. There were several cheers and “Aww!”s.

“Hello Star,” a familiar voice greeted. Tyler Oakley was standing there, looking cheeky. I smiled and gave him a sarcastic expression.

“And what do you want?” I snapped playfully.

“I wanted to know whether or not you have a boyfriend yet so we can stay up late tonight talking about it.”

I snorted. Everyone else seemed to figure out it was Tyler and they all started laughing too.

“No, you’ll be disappointed to hear that I do not have a boyfriend. I haven’t had time.”

He gave me a cheeky wink and left the queue of people.

“Hey Star. I'm Jessie,” a teenage girl with blonde hair greeted. I waved and returned her greeting excitedly, curious about what she was going to ask. My viewers always had the most intriguing and unique questions once the basics were gotten out of the way. “What are you most excited for about this _particular_ Playlist Live?”

“Ooooh. Good one,” I remarked. “Meeting subscribers definitely takes first place, as I said before, but also making friends with the other big-name YouTubers that inspired me to get here. And the other thing I'm really excited for I can't tell y’all about because if I do, y’all will go running straight to Dan and Phil and spoil it.”

Everyone “ _Ooooh_ ”ed. They had no idea that I was lying. My surprise had nothing to do with Dan and Phil. They didn’t need to know that yet. I was just trying to divert their suspicions so it could really be a surprise.

On the panel went. I tried to answer as many questions as I possibly could, trying to answer all of them. When I only had a couple seconds left before Dan and Phil would take over the stage, I stood up urgently. “Okay, you people in the line whose questions I didn’t get to answer, _please_ Tweet them at me and I’ll make a video! I hope you all know exactly how much I love you guys! You're all the reason I keep doing all of this! I’ll see you all as soon as possible! And it may be sooner than you think!” I winked at the camera recording my panel before waving.

“Give it up for Starquake Dreams!” the announcer called. Cheers followed me off the stage. I gave Dan and Phil quick hugs where they were waiting in the wings.

“Good luck you two!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a note to make about this, but I can't remember what it was. This isn't my first story or fanfic that I've ever written, but it is the first one that I've put up on AO3 and I have NO IDEA what I'm doing or even if I'm doing it correctly. I got a comment from someone a while ago that asked me if I was going to continue this, and I am. Just slowly. As I figure out how to use this site.


	3. Day Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I swear, these shenanigans are not my fault! Well, most of them aren't. Thomas just asks and how can someone say no to that face?

“Disney pranks—with friends,” Thomas commented into his phone camera mischievously, holding up his open left hand, full of wooden stars. Star was going to regret trusting him with the spare key to her room. She should have given it to Phil or Louise. He really loved messing with her. He switched the camera around to the back one.

He shoved the card key into the lock and opened the door as quietly as he could.

 *^*^*^*^*

“When you wish upon a Star!” a voice sang obnoxiously, jolting me awake. My face was assaulted by something that felt like wood. I pulled my black sleep mask off groggily, trying to sit up but failing due to being tangled in the sheets.

“Thomas! What?” I mumbled blearily, exhausted and confused.

“You're a star, Star! So I'm wishing on you!” Thomas exclaimed brightly. I looked down at what he’d thrown at me. Wooden stars littered my hotel bed.

“What time even _is_ it?” I complained tiredly.

“It is six AM in sunny Florida and Playlist Live is awaiting its brightest star!”

I flopped back onto my pillow. “My Meet-and-Greet doesn’t start till _eleven,_ Thomas!” I protested.

“I know. But I was kind of hoping you’d join me at mine for a couple hours—in case I need someone to sing for Rapunzel or Jasmine or Anna,” he replied. I raised my eyebrows and looked over at him, peeling my eyes open again to look at him.

“I can't tell if you're joking or not,” I commented sarcastically.

He was still filming—I could tell. “Oh no, I'm not! You’d be the _best_ duet partner!”

I groaned and burrowed my head deeper into the pillow. “Go away. I'm going back to sleep.”

He put his phone in his pocket, no longer filming. Which meant something was getting serious.

“Um… actually… I need to ask you something else before you do that,” he murmured, almost embarrassed. I lifted my head and glanced at him, a bit annoyed but also a bit curious. It was rare for me to hear him talk like that. He seemed to always act confident around me. He was a quick blusher, true, but even though they were quick they were rare. At least around me. But I didn’t see him often—just when I was at Playlist or some other convention that he was also attending. So I wasn’t sure.

“Thomas, I'm already helping you at your panel today—”

“It’s not about that. It’s about… after the panel.”

I raised one eyebrow. “I'm listening,” I commented, disentangling myself from the sheets.

“Actually. It’s about after the convention wraps up today,” Thomas admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Listening intently,” I amended.

“Well… neither of us are vampires… we both have to eat. And… we’ll probably be hungry at the end of the day. I was… I was just wondering if… you’d like to go out to dinner with me. Just… just the two of us.” His cheeks were a bright shade of pink and I could see his ears turning red under his reddish brown flop of hair.

I smiled, shaking my messy mop of hair out of my face. “I'd love to. It’s a date,” I agreed.

He nodded and started to awkwardly back up towards the door. “I’ll… let you get back to sleep.”

I shook my head. “No. There’s no way I'm gonna get back to bed now. Might as well get up. Still want me to join your Meet-‘n’-Greet?” I pushed my nest of hair out of my face and rubbed my eyes, getting the sleepiness out.

“If you wouldn’t mind. That would still be fun,” he replied. “I'm sure some fangirl is going to want to hear me sing and it’d be great if I had someone there to sing with me.”

I snorted. “Yes, because the entire room full of fangirls wouldn’t be a better option. Y’all could do a whole big group number and half the room would go right along with it,” I commented, climbing out of bed finally and crossing to the bathroom where my hairbrush was sitting on the counter. I started to attempt to tame it while Thomas chuckled.

“Okay you’ve got a point,” he relented. “But I know you better than I know them.”

“Fair enough I guess. Now get out and lemme get dressed. I’ll see you down in the lobby for breakfast in like fifteen minutes.”

Thomas nodded and retreated out of the room so I could get dressed. Once the door closed I stripped off my pajamas, threw them in my suitcase, and pulled on a very normal outfit for me in case people actually wanted to take pictures with me. After I was properly dressed, I finished my hair.

I shoved my toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste in my bag and rushed down the hallway to the elevator. Once I reached the bottom floor, I went to the little breakfast bar—where Thomas was waiting for me, eating cereal at a table. He’d even made me a few pieces of toast with a small thing of butter on the side, a plastic knife stabbed into the top.

“You look nice,” he complimented. I blushed and glanced down at my sneakers.

“Thanks.” I sat down across from him and began to butter my toast.

“Ready for today?”

“Well, I'm readier now than I was when you threw wooden stars at my face,” I retorted.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

I rolled my eyes and shoved the corner of the first piece of toast into my mouth, tearing it off and chewing it slowly, not looking away from where he was eating his cereal.

The pull of sleep was still tugging on my eyelids no matter how much I rubbed them. But my mind was too awake to go back to bed. If I tried to go back to sleep now, I would just lie there, tossing and turning, for hours. Might as well try to be productive.

When we finished our breakfast, we headed to the convention. We were a couple minutes early so I got to brush my teeth before going to Thomas’ Meet-and-Greet.

Once it started, most of his audience didn’t even notice that I was there. And if they did, they didn’t particularly care. But some of them were excited that I was crashing. Since joining Thomas was _probably_ against the rules, all the Fanders who noticed that I wasn’t just another one of them promised not to tell the Playlist Live staff. Whenever a staff member got close, I'd pull my Fanders Army jacket on over my very distinctive Starquake Dreams outfit and hide in the line. I wasn’t even sure if crashing the M-‘n’-G for so long wasn’t allowed, but it was fun to hide from them, acting like I wasn’t even there.

Sometimes Thomas would call for me to sing or help take pictures—which I was more than happy to do—but mostly I just entertained other Fanders in the line while they waited.

When ten-forty-five rolled around, I gave Thomas a quick goodbye hug and rushed off to get ready for my own Meet-and-Greet. I brushed my teeth and hair again and got to the room just in time. Sometimes I was surprised I even _got_ an M-‘n’-G. Sure mine was _a lot_ shorter than the bigger names, but I still got one!

“What's the weirdest picture a fan has ever asked to take with you?” a teen boy inquired.

“Well, kisses aren’t allowed, but two boys once put a crown on my head, made a chair with their arms, and had me sit on it. Why? Are you going to try to out-weird everyone?” I replied teasingly. The boy smiled.

“Maybe next year, Star. For now, can I just have a hug?”

“Of course!” I gave him as big of a hug as I could for the picture and then he moved on. Every time someone asked me the weirdest pose, I gave them a different answer. There had been many strange pose requests. I kept the _actual_ weirdest to myself. The time my ex-best-guy-friend asked to hold me in his arms. We’d stormed out of each other’s lives several years before—in middle school, actually. I'd never expected to see him in this context—especially not so far from home.

A few hours later, my Meet-‘n’-Greet was over. I guzzled and entire bottle of water, went to the bathroom, had a quick snack, brushed my teeth again for good measure, and took off jogging for backstage—where Thomas was waiting for me, probably right out of his own Meet-and-Greet since his was longer than mine. “Nice of you to join me,” he remarked sarcastically. I snorted.

“I told you I'd be here,” I retorted teasingly as someone smoothed out my hair and someone else handed me a microphone—probably the last YouTuber to be on stage.

“Hey, do me a favor and take the Fanders Army jacket off,” he requested. I put my bag on a folding chair, shrugged out of my gray zip up, and draped it over the back of the stage. I hadn’t been wearing it for my M-‘n’-G, but the corridors of the convention were chilly. For Florida.

“What, you don’t want me wearing your merch on stage?” I joked playfully.

“Well, as much as I love the fact that you have a Fanders Army jacket, I feel like it would seem a little too self-serving on my part if you wore it onstage.” He shrugged a little bit, rubbing his mic between his hands. “Besides, the lights are gonna make you so hot you're not gonna wanna be wearing a jacket,” he added. I smiled and tightened my grip on my mic. “Ready to be a star, Star?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I admitted.

“Then let’s _do_ this! It’ll be _awesome!”_ he exclaimed.

I followed Thomas to the edge where we would step out. He gave me an excited little handshake and a wink. I rolled my eyes and smiled with half of my mouth.

 _“Let’s hear it for Thomas Sanders!”_ an announcer shouted. Cheers and applause.

“Okay. Get out there and blow their minds,” I whispered, nudging him in the small of the back.

He nodded excitedly shaking out his limbs and his head, just to get rid of nerves and be ready.

Thomas smiled at the massive audience as he stepped onto the stage. I took a step back to make sure that no one would see me. My inclusion had to be a complete surprise. It was his idea. He waved and held his microphone up near his sternum. “What’s up Playlist?!” he called brightly. An overwhelming roar of cheers almost deafened me. I had to take another step back to get away from the noise. “Right. Well. Wow. Good.” A quieter round of chuckles. “I'm doing pretty well—but now that I see all of you guys, I feel a lot better.”

Laughter. I heard it through cotton. I hadn’t been particularly nervous a moment ago, but now that the moment was quickly approaching, my stomach was churning, my chest was seizing up, and my heart was loudly pumping in my ears. Oh _man_ was I nervous. _Insanely_ nervous. If I screwed this up, everyone would judge me.

“So, once again, I'm going to sing a couple tunes. Which I know I've done before but—” He stopped. “Wait. Did I say ‘I’? Sorry about that. I meant ‘we’!”

“Oooooh!” several Fanders chorused.

“And… I don’t think she’s ever sang for you guys…” Thomas looked over at me where I was hiding backstage. “Have you?” he wondered. I raised my eyebrows in thought for a moment, tilting my head side-to-side in a gesture of “sort of.” He smiled. “She’s saying, ‘Not really.’ So this will be fun!” He beckoned me subtly. “Let’s give a big round of applause for…!”

I gripped my microphone tightly to assuage my nerves. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, I jogged onto the stage with a loud, “Hello-ha!” of greeting.

“Starquake Dreams!” Thomas introduced, holding a hand out to wrap around my shoulders.

I put my free arm around his waist and waved to the audience with my microphone before holding it just below my head. “Hi Thomas. Fancy seeing you here,” I commented sarcastically. He chuckled and squeezed my shoulders.

“Indeed,” he agreed, giving me a slightly-crooked grin. “Shall we?”

I sighed dramatically—making the audience chuckle. “Sure,” I commented.

The minus track of _A Whole New World_ began on cue. Thomas took a deep breath, still looking at me for a moment, and began to sing. I _loved_ Thomas’ voice. It was rich and full with a really good volume. I could easily get lost in it. But this time, I didn’t have leave to close my eyes and listen because _I had to sing too!_ His eyes drifted out to the audience, head following slowly.

Thomas held my shoulders comfortingly. He could feel my nervous shaking. His warmth soaked through the sleeve of my T-shirt from the palm of his hand, and his thumb rubbed my arm to calm me down.

I started the female lyrics with a small shake in my voice that went away as I leaned against Thomas’ side. He was very solid. He definitely helped ground me in reality in moments like this. Moments when nothing could have _possibly_ been real—because how could singing Disney in front of a huge audience with one of my best friends be real? I must have been dreaming. I'd wake up and tell the internet about it in a YouTube video later.

But no. Thomas was here, holding onto me, singing with me. Keeping me focused—grounded. Calm.

His hand slid from my opposite shoulder, down my arm closest to him, until he took my hand. I looked up at him. He gave me a subtle wink before spinning me under his arm. I smiled and kept singing through my amused laughter. The audience had been politely quiet until that happened—then there were cheers and a couple wolf whistles.

We ended the song on a diagonal, looking half at each other and half towards our audience—standing a mere foot apart. I wasn’t looking him in the eye, knowing that if I did I'd just start laughing uncontrollably.

As the music drifted to a close, the audience went absolutely _wild_ —in a good way.

Thomas grabbed my hand and yanked me in tight to his side. “Give it up for Star, everybody!” he called. A wave of cheers and applause crashed over us. “You guys are all awesome. Now we’ve got one more song prepared—”

“Just _kiss_ already!” someone shouted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing this story! I hope you'll keep joining me. I know I'm being slow at this. I'm still getting used to AO3... Love y'all for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on AO3 so I'm just trying to figure out how to use it. Also, I have NO IDEA how Playlist Live actually works since I've never attended, so I just kinda... made it up! XD


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